'We won't give GITMO back': White House reacts to Castro's requests

The exterior of Camp Delta is seen at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay (Reuters/Bob Strong) / Reuters

The United States will not relinquish its military base at Guantanamo Bay, or lift other embargoes aimed at Havana at this time, the White House said, despite requests from Cuban President Raúl Castro.

During a scheduled briefing on Thursday, the White House press
secretary said that US President Barack Obama will not be heeding
the requests recently made by his Cuban counterpart in the wake
of a resetting of relations between the two nations.

On Wednesday, Castro said the US should officially end the
economic embargo that’s been long imposed, and forfeit the
detention center it maintains at Guantanamo Bay. The requests
followed news that both nations have decided to re-open
diplomatic avenues.

Weighing in on Castro’s request, White House press secretary Josh
Earnest suggested on Thursday that the Cuban leader shouldn’t
hold his breath.

“I think what [Castro’s] comments highlight is there are
pretty clear differences between establishing diplomatic
relations and carrying out the longer process of normalizing
relations,” Earnest said, according to the Washington Times.

Despite recent attempts to rekindle the weary relationship
between the two, Earnest said that the Obama and Castro
administrations are far from seeing eye-to-eye at this point on
each and every issue.

“There are a variety of concerns we have with the way the
Castro regime treats political dissidents, the way they treat
individuals who are trying to freely express their views, even
the way they treat some reporters,” the Times quoted Earnest
as saying.

Earlier this week, the Cuban leader said the US should provide
compensation for what he called decades of “human and
economic damage” brought on by American-imposed embargoes
and trade policies.

"He could use with resolve his broad executive powers to
substantially change the scope of the blockade, even without the
Congress decision," Castro said.

In mid-December, both Castro and Obama announced during
concurrent news conferences that the two nations would try to
start anew after conflicting ideologies led to a split, then
sanctions, more than a half-century earlier.

“This is fundamentally about freedom and openness, and also
expresses my belief in the power of people-to-people
engagement,” Obama said of the policy change, adding that he
hopes such “contact will ultimately do more to empower the
Cuban people.”